Notes for each box:

Wild Places  

• Even though God was with them in the wilderness, it was still a wild place. 
• The Bible talks about wild places as places that don’t have order. They aren’t cultivated and peaceful like the Garden of Eden. This was definitely true of the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land. They didn’t even have food there. God had to provide manna for them.
• This place is also wild because the Israelites themselves follow their own desires in a way that is compared to wild animals.

Through the Waters

• Just as God brought the Israelites (and the Egyptians who came with them) through the Sea of Reeds (a.k.a. The Red Sea), He brings this generation through the Jordan River. Once again, the crossing is miraculous. The river was at flood stage, but when the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped into it, the water stopped flowing.
• After everyone had crossed, one leader from each tribe went back into the riverbed and picked up a stone near where the priests stood in the center. They took these stones to their camp and stacked them so that they could always remember how God had brought them through the waters of the Jordan…which also reminded them of the Sea of Reeds.

Blessing

• The priests had the ongoing job of blessing the people. They reminded them that they were God’s representatives to the other nations.

Covenant

• Even though they were already in covenant with God, the Israelites listened to Joshua read their covenant agreement to them again once they arrived in the land. They were to read and renew the covenant every 7 years.

Garden

• Remember that the Promised Land is full of milk, honey, and fruit. These are all words that describe a Garden that is full of life.
• Every tribe settles in the region God gave them.

Choice

• Notice the word evil here and remember the choice at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This choice involved doing what was good “in their own eyes.” Here, Joshua flips it. He asks them if it seems evil to them to serve Yahweh.

Part B: The Road to Exile

The next part of the story takes place over about 700 years! Remember that just like God gave Adam and Eve a choice in the Garden of Eden, He also gives the Israelites a choice. Will they be faithful to the covenant? Or will they do what is right in their own eyes?

As we watch the video on Kings, pay attention to the how this story follows the pattern of reveal, promise, and life outside the garden.

Practice

• Guide your family in illustrating the remaining boxes (see notes below).

Notes for each box:

Reveal

• The book of Judges is one disaster after another. Time and again, the people choose not to serve God. This continues through the books of I and II Kings. 

Promise

• Because the people choose not to serve God, prophets warn them that they will be exiled from the land, just as Moses predicted. But God promises that a new King – the Messiah – will come from David’s family and bring them back to the Garden-land.
  

Out of the Garden

• God stops protecting the Israelites. First the Israelites living in the North, and then those living in the South, are attacked and forced to leave the new Garden.
• God’s presence also leaves the Temple, and the Temple is destroyed.

Note: The boxes for each scene are well-suited for Instagram stories and reels. We’d love to see your students’ illustrations! If you’d like to share them, use the hashtag #onestorybible. You can find us on Instagram at @onestory.bible